A “multimode” communication device may include one or more Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards that store information for accessing mobile communication networks. Each SIM card enables the communication device to communicate via a communication network, typically using a subscription (i.e., a subscriber account). Each SIM card may be associated with a different communication network that may utilize a different radio access technology (RAT), as well as a different subscription. A multimode communication device may include multiple radio frequency (RF) resource chains that each subscription may use, such as one or more cellular network transceivers, as well as one or more short-range transceivers that support RATs associated with wireless local area networks (WLANs) (e.g., a BLUETOOTH transceiver, a WI-FI transceiver, etc.).
A multimode communication device may use RATs according to a priority order, which may be defined by network operators, users, etc. When a multimode communication device is powered up, the device may attempt to detect a signal of each RAT in the priority order, and may establish a communication link with the highest-priority available RAT. If the multimode communication device establishes communication using a lower priority RAT (e.g., a second or third priority RAT), the multimode communication device will periodically scan for the availability of higher priority RAT(s), which consumes operating cycles and battery power of the multimode communication device.